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Mongrel Mob members used money from the Government's Whanau Ora programme to buy cannabis for drug dealing, police allege.

The claim is part of the police summary of facts in the case against a 26-year-old Mongrel Mob Notorious member who yesterday pleaded guilty in the Dunedin District Court to a joint charge of conspiracy to sell cannabis.

Michael Logan Wong-Tong, of Turangi, was one of 10 men arrested in May and one of four charged jointly on a conspiracy to sell charge, after a four-month investigation - which included use of electronic interception - into the gang's drug dealing in the Dunedin area.

Those charged include five Mongrel Mob Notorious gang members and a gang associate.

Police say the misappropriation of $20,000 from the We Against Violence Trust - which had a contract with Te Puni Kokori (the Maori Development Ministry) to deliver services via the Whanau Ora programme until April - was discovered during the operation.

Four of the men were also charged with dishonestly converting the trust's money.